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Dr. Deb, Cat Veterinarian

Category: Cat Veterinary

Satisfied Customers: 9144

Experience: I have been a practicing veterinarian for over 30 years.

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Cat was vomiting x4 days went to vet poise diagnosis was

Customer Question

Cat was vomiting x4 days went to vet poise diagnosis was gastritis pancreatitis foreign body or IBd rehydrated injection for nausea Meds flagyl sucralate probiotic.nausea and vomiting stopped immediately stared eating small amts .2nd vet vet visit possible allergy to chicken had slight fever 39.7. Second antibiotic started.bw all normal pancreatitis r/o no definitive Dx doing better till two days ago. Today diarrhea previous stool had been soft.but formed could Abx be causing diarrhea? I know to prove IBD he would need ultra sound and surgery before starting him on predniilone he is only 3 but this is far beyond my means I asked the vet if he is presenting c IBD do a trial period of drug and see how he reacts he's also a plastic chewer&swaller&vomits there musts be many other causes for diarrhea he is on lamb

Flagyl or,metronidazole for tw weeks the started on clavamix for another 2 weeks plus 2 more weeks of flagyl

Customer:replied 1 year ago.

Re stools about 2weeks they were formed but oddly shaped so vet felt they ere loose vomiting stopped after forts vet visit almost a month ago diarrhea started todat

Customer:replied 1 year ago.

Posted by JustAnswer at customer's request) Hello. I would like to request the following Expert Service(s) from you: Live Phone Call. Let me know if you need more information, or send me the service offer(s) so we can proceed.

Unfortunately, I'm not equipped to take phone calls and hope that this format is acceptable to you. My apologies for the inconvenience.

I essentially agree with the list of possible explanations for his initial symptoms although sometimes it's not always possible to know exactly the cause of gastrointestinal signs without additional diagnostics.

I often dispense Metronidazole for my patients when they develop diarrhea which typically helps to firm up the stools; however, having said that, diarrhea is listed as one of the adverse side effects for some patients.

Clavamox is notorious for causing looser stool issues so either one or both of these drugs could be causing the problem he's having.

It's going to be difficult to know if he's having a drug reaction until or unless the drugs he's currently taking are discontinued. If he's otherwise acting fine, then I'm unclear as to why he's continuing to be medicated.

If he does have IBD, then you're correct that it would take a biopsy to diagnose which many owners are understandably reluctant to do especially for such a young cat.

1. However, rather than a pred trial at this time (which I'll sometimes do even without a specific diagnosis), I'd change his diet to something more hypoallergenic. Diet plays a huge role in causing intestinal inflammation and often just such a change can help the patient.....although for some additional drugs are needed.

Feeding grain free may help in some cases but other diets to consider would be Z/D (from your vet), or Natural Ba***** *****mited Ingredient Diets, Nature's Variety Instincts line, Evo duck or venison, Nature's Variety Frozen Raw Medallions (I recommend that they be zapped in the microwave for 10-15 seconds on each side).

Sometimes this is a trial and error process---finding the food that your cat will eat as well as one that helps with the problem.

2. I'd also continue probiotics which, hopefully, he's still taking.

Additional supplements which may help these cats include:

3. l-glutamine 500mg/day crush in food which is available at health food stores or online.2. NuCat Senior which is a supplement which contains anti-oxidants.3. Vitamin D3 1,000 IU day.. but not calcitriol. This amount of Vit D3 is not dangerous to cats

I'm not certain that he does have IBD as a cause for his symptoms especially if he ingests all kinds of things which could also cause gastrointestinal irritation. But, it sounds to me as if he may be over medicated at this point. It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate the situation....although a change in diet as I mentioned above may be something to consider since it clearly won't be harmful.

As I mentioned in the other question you posted, I'll respond here to your additional concerns. We can continue to discuss this issue here; you don't have to post an additional question.

I can understand why you might think yogurt would be a good probiotic for him since it's often good for us but the gi tract of cats is very different. I tend to suggest a probiotic which is specifically formulated for cats such as Forti Flora. It comes in a powder which can be sprinkled on wet food every day. It's often available at local pet or grain stores or online.

In terms of the consistency of his diet, it actually doesn't make that much difference in healthy cats although I tend to prefer canned for several reasons in those who has gi disease. It has more water which can often be helpful for gi disease. Canned food also tends to have a lower carbohydrate percentage than dry food which can also be helpful for some of these patients.

I might also be tempted to stop all drugs at this point.

Start him on a good probiotic such as Forti Flora.

I'm not sure if I would change his diet at this point if he's done well on his current food but if you're pretty certain that he's not allergic to chicken, you could feed him chicken breast with the skin on it (because we're not worried about fat, just carbohydrates) and nothing else. It's not balanced for the long term but it won't be harmful if he's fed this for a few days.